The president, the plane and the prince: Top takeaways from the 3rd Epstein files release

The Justice Department on Tuesday released a third batch of records related to Jeffrey Epstein, a wide array of documents that shed light on alleged co-conspirators and the late sex offender's ties to the former Prince Andrew.

Among the records, released in accordance with the law passed by Congress last month, were several references to President Donald Trump. Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years and has said they had a falling-out because Epstein was a “creep,” has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

The White House on Tuesday referred NBC News to a statement the Justice Department made earlier in the day.

“The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” it said on X.

An NBC News review confirmed that the Justice Department released roughly 30,000 records.

Here are the top takeaways from the files.

An email sent in January 2020 by a New York federal prosecutor who appeared to be involved with the criminal case against Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell alerted an unidentified person to flight logs involving Trump and Epstein from the 1990s.

“For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case.”

Maxwell was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges months later, in July 2020. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The email said Trump, then serving his first term as president, “is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present. He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric.”

“On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old [redacted]. On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.”

The names of both the sender and the recipient were redacted. The message does not accuse Trump of any wrongdoing.

Another released document showed federal prosecutors discussing “10 co-conspirators” of Epstein’s in an email exchange. To date, Maxwell is the only co-conspirator to be charged. The Justice Department said in a memo in July that it did not have evidence to charge any other parties in the case.

Their identities are not revealed in the exchange. One is described as a “wealthy business man in Ohio,” while “3 have been located in FL and served [grand jury] subpoenas; 1 in Boston, 1 in NYC, and 1 in CT were located and served.”

The three others are “out of pocket,” the email said.

It’s unclear what information investigators pursued or found about the potential co-conspirators. Maxwell is the only Epstein accomplice to be charged criminally, and it's not clear whether she's one of the 10 people referenced.

Epstein had a history of turning some of his young victims into recruiters.

Another document revealed that investigators found that Epstein had a fake Austrian passport in his safe, which included his picture and the name Marius Robert Fortelni. It listed his residence as Saudi Arabia.

A prosecutor said Epstein's lawyers said in a court filing that the document "expired 32 years ago" and that Epstein had never used it.

"Epstein — an affluent member of the Jewish faith — acquired the passport in the 1980s, when hijackings were prevalent, in connection to Middle East travel. The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnapers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur,” it quotes the filing as saying.

The third batch of released records also appears to include email exchanges between Maxwell and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who lost his British titles of prince and Duke of York because of his ties to Epstein.

An Aug. 16, 2001, email from an address labeled “The Invisible Man” to Maxwell reads, “I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family,” an apparent reference to Balmoral Castle, the royal family’s estate in Scotland.

"How’s LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends? Let me know when you are coming over as I am free from 25th August until 2nd Sept and want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall," continues the email, which concludes, "See ya A xxx.”

Maxwell responded: "I have only been able to find appropriate friends. Will let you know about some church meetings on those dates. Kisses Gx.”

One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, has claimed that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to the prince in the early 2000s when she was 17. Andrew, who has denied having had sex with Giuffre and any wrongdoing connected to Epstein, was never charged criminally.

He settled a civil suit Giuffre brought against him by making a substantial donation to her charity. The settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing, but a letter issued on his behalf at the time said he "regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others."

Giuffre died by suicide n April.

The release includes various unverified, anonymous tips to the FBI. One was called in shortly before the 2020 election, with a tipster who said he’d once spoken to a woman who alleged Trump and Epstein raped her in the 1990s. The tipster said the woman told him she wouldn't go to the police because she was scared for her life. It’s unclear whether the FBI investigated the anonymous secondhand claim.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday night in a post on X, “We produce documents, and sometimes this can result in releasing fake or false documents because they simply are in our possession because the law requires this.”

He cited, “Fake videos of Epstein in his cell. Photos with no explanation. Sensational tales and lies by random people. These are not reality. We will continue to produce every document required by law. Let’s not let internet rumor engines outrun the facts.”

Included in the release was a note signed “J. Epstein” addressed to Larry Nassar, the sports doctor who was convicted of sexually abusing numerous girls and women in his care and is serving a prison sentence of 40 to 175 years behind bars.

The Justice Department said Tuesday on social media that it was “looking into the validity of this alleged letter,” and in a follow-up post two hours later it declared that the letter is fake and that the “writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein’s.”

“This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual,” the post said.

The letter had a postmark of Aug. 13, 2019, at a U.S. Postal Service facility in Northern Virginia — three days after Epstein died in his jail cell while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York. Investigators say he died by suicide.

The note says, “As you know by now I have taken the ‘short route’ home.” It then tells Nassar “we shared one thing ... our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they reach their full potential.” It says “our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls,” and it complains that he and Nassar have been locked up. “Life is unfair,” the note concludes.

Another release showed confusion and miscommunication around Epstein’s Aug. 10, 2019, death, with the U.S. Marshals Service informing the U.S. attorney’s office about the death, which was already being reported in the media.

“As you might imagine, we are getting increasingly frantic calls from defense counsel who continue to be seeing information in the press that we—the U.S. Attorney’s Office—haven’t yet received. We need to know as soon as possible the very basic facts, such as time and cause of death at the absolute minimum. It has now been hours since this was reported publicly,” the unidentified person wrote.